


Full Circle

by felineranger



Series: The Todster Files [3]
Category: Red Dwarf
Genre: Fluff and Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-10
Updated: 2016-01-10
Packaged: 2018-05-13 01:15:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5688982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/felineranger/pseuds/felineranger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Back on the nano-resurrected Red Dwarf, Lister is under house arrest in his quarters and gets a visit from Todhunter.</p><p>Follows on from the events of Rimmer's Report and The Lister Problem</p>
            </blockquote>





	Full Circle

 

                Lister sat at the table in his old quarters, still in shock. The sound of voices outside in the corridor both thrilled and unnerved him. If it wasn’t for the security bracelet sitting heavy on his wrist, he might have started to wonder if all of this was a dream or hallucination.

 

The crew were back. _Rimmer_ was back, alive and as irritating as he remembered. Lister didn’t know how to feel about any of it. He knew he should be pleased; ecstatic even. He was no longer the last man alive. He was no longer alone. This ought to be the best thing that had happened to him in years, since….well, since everyone had died. Unfortunately, his current predicament rather spoiled things and highlighted very emphatically the downside of the situation. With the status quo restored, Lister was no longer his own man. He was back to being a third technician; the lowest rank on a sizable spaceship, with little to no power or control. After years of freedom, independence, and effective command of his own little crew, this was something of a shock to the system. Right now he’d be lucky to even go back to being a third technician; if he couldn’t find the nanobots and couldn’t produce any other proof to substantiate his claim, then he’d be facing an even bleaker future down on Floor 13, or the psychiatric ward.

 

But they would _have_ to believe him surely. He had Kochanski, Kryten and his own version of Holly to back him up. Cat hadn’t appeared from nowhere, they would have a hard time explaining him away. The medi-computer would show that both he and Kriss had aged. He just had to be patient while they pieced everything together and gathered all the evidence.

 

As he sat brooding over all of this, someone buzzed to come in. He hoped it wasn’t Rimmer, back to gloat some more. “Come in,” he called unenthusiastically. He was surprised and a little bit perturbed when Todhunter entered the room. Each new shadow of his past rocked him, as he came to terms with the idea that all of these people who had been dead to him for so long were now back walking around and talking. “Hi,” he said stupidly.

 

Todhunter stared at him, his face ashen. He crossed the room, put his hands on Lister’s shoulders and stared down into his face. “My god,” he said faintly, “It’s true, isn’t it? It’s all true.”

“Yeah,” Lister said regretfully. He supposed he wasn’t the only one struggling to come to terms with the situation. “Who else knows?”

“Just the senior officers. Of course, at this stage it’s all just rumour, but they want to keep it classified. They don’t want a panic.”

“They’ll have to tell everyone sooner or later. It’s only a matter of time before someone looks out the window and notices the solar system is, y’know, gone.”

“Once they’ve looked at all the evidence they’ll have to make an announcement. Right now everyone is still in shock. They don’t want to believe it.”

“But you did?”

Todhunter forced a smile, “I knew you weren’t dumb enough to try and steal a Starbug.”

Lister allowed himself a small smile back, “Ha! Knew Kochanski wasn’t dumb enough to run off with me, more like.”

“Tell me everything. From the beginning.”

 

They sat down at the table. “Do you remember the two of us going on a date?” Lister asked him cautiously. If Todunter said no, then it was going to be even more difficult and awkward to explain all this than it already was. “Yes,” Todhunter said, to Lister’s relief, “And I remember us meeting with the captain the next day and agreeing for you to go into stasis. You had twenty-four hours to prepare. By my reckoning, that meeting was…” he checked his watch, “…approximately twenty-six hours ago.”

“In that case,” Lister said slowly, “I’m guessing that the nanobots brought everyone back as of the moment I was supposed to go into stasis. They were trying to recreate things as if I’d never gone in, so they resurrected everyone at the moment the timeline would have changed.”

“That would make sense, I suppose.”

“So, for you, all of that was only a matter of hours ago?”

“Yes. And for you it’s been over three million years.” Todhunter put his head in his hands, “Dammit all, Dave. I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”

“What are _you_ sorry for? None of this is your fault.”

“I shouldn’t have encouraged you to go into stasis.”

“Come on, given the options it was the only sane thing to do.”

“You should never have been put in that position.”

 

Lister smiled at Todhunter’s indignation on his behalf, but the conversation stirred some troubling thoughts. It was amusing now to think back on that meeting; it all seemed so long ago, so ridiculous and unimportant but, if so little time had effectively passed between then and now, might it still be more relevant than he realised? Even if he could prove his innocence, might Hollister use this as an excuse to lock him in the Tank and solve his Lister Problem a different way?

 

“When I think what you must have been through,” Todhunter went on, “…all these years…”

“It’s not been that bad. Not really. There’s been a few hairy moments, but overall I’ve scraped by okay.”

“What was it like though?” Todhunter asked him, his face haunted, “What was it like in that moment when you stepped out of stasis and everyone was gone? What was going through your head?”

 _Everybody’s dead, Dave_. Lister gave an involuntary shiver. “Yeah,” he said uncomfortably, “That was a bad moment, I’ll grant you.” Todhunter saw the shiver and put a hand over his.

“I’m sorry. That was insensitive of me. I’m still trying to get my head around all this.”

“It’s fine. I think in some ways this is harder for you than it is for me. The whole thing is screwy, but I’m used to that. You woke up this morning thinking it was just another day and now…”

“Now I’ve got to come to terms with the fact that I’ve been dead for three million years.” Todhunter shook his head with a slightly hysterical laugh, “How do you even begin to process something like that, Dave? You tell me, you’re the expert.”

“You don’t,” Lister replied simply, “You find something to keep living for and you focus on it, or your brain melts.”

“So what’s kept you going?”

“The idea that maybe someday I can get home.”

“Back to Earth? What for, if everyone is gone?” Lister saw the colour drain from Todhunter’s face as he said the words aloud and truly started to process them. “Because…everyone _is_ gone. Aren’t they?”

“We don’t know that for sure.”

“Be realistic, Dave.”

“I survived, didn’t I? Now, thanks to the nanobots, so have you. We all have. Who knows what else has been happening out there in the cosmos? Who knows what other crazy twists of fate have occurred while we’ve been out here?”

“The chances of it…”

“Anything is possible, Frank. Believe me, I know whereof I speak. I’ve seen and done things that would blow your mind and I can tell you, with absolute authority, that _anything is possible_.”

 

Todhunter looked into Lister’s eyes and swallowed hard. There was not a trace of insincerity in his expression. Lister was not trying to make him feel better, he wasn’t even trying to make _himself_ feel better. This was the face of a man who had seen things. Right now, Todhunter didn’t want to know what those things might be, he had enough to think about. “Even so,” he ventured, “if Earth is still there, if the human race is still there, what do any of us have to go back to? Each and every person on this ship is a ghost, a soul lost in time and space. What does home even mean anymore?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Lister said grimly, “No-one on this ship is going home. While it was just me, there was a chance. I could have gone back into stasis when necessary. Red Dwarf could have slipped quietly through the universe unnoticed. That’s gone out the airlock. There’s not enough stasis booths for everyone to make it back, for a start. There’s not enough supplies.” Another, more frightening thought occurred to Lister. “And a populated ship this size will draw attention.”

 

“What are you talking about?” Todhunter asked him, still pale, “What do you mean ‘attention’? Who else is out there?”

“Simulants. Rogue droids. GELF’s. There are things out there that hate humans and would hunt us down just for the pleasure of killing us all one by one. There are things that couldn’t give a damn about us, but would come just to ransack the ship and take whatever they could get. One or two life forms scanning on a vessel like this, they might ignore that, maybe put it down to rats or spiders, but over a thousand? Forget it. Even if we could cloak our numbers somehow, the power usage would give us away. All of these people turning lights on and off, using kettles, toasters, microwaves, vending machines. It all sends out a beacon. We Are Here. We Are Home. Please Drop In.”

 

“You didn’t think to mention any of this sooner?” Todhunter asked, his eyes wide.

“I’m sorry,” Lister sniped back, “I’ve had kind of a crazy day. I haven’t had time to think about all of this properly.” He rubbed wearily at his face, “Look, don’t panic. They’re out there and they’ll find us sooner or later, but it will most likely be later. We’ve got time to think and prepare. Plot out battle strategies if necessary.”

“Battle strategies???” Todhunter looked first horrified then devastated. He gazed on Lister sorrowfully. “What happened?” he asked sadly, “What happened to that sweet young boy I kissed the other night?”

 

The words stabbed Lister harder than intended; the tenderness of the memory crushed by the weight of everything he’d seen and done these past few years. “He died, Frank.”

 

Todhunter stood up from his chair and took Lister’s hand, gently pulling him up too. “No,” he said gently, “I don’t believe that. He’s still in there, he’s just put on some armour.”

“Actually, I did die,” Lister said awkwardly. “A couple of times, technically. Like I said, these last few years have been kinda weird.”

“Tell me about it sometime. But not now. There’s only so much a brain can take.”

“Yeah.”

“If there’s a silver lining anywhere in all this,” Todhunter gave him a sudden tender smile, “That sweet young boy grew up very lovely; armour and all.”

Lister looked down, embarrassed by a silly bashful smile that he couldn’t hide, “Shurrup.”

 

“Don’t worry about this,” Todhunter gently lifted the hand with the security bracelet shackled to it, “I’ll talk to the captain. I’m not going to let him lock you up. If nothing else, I think we’re going to need you in the days ahead.”

“What about the others?”

“I’ll sort things out. Don’t worry.”

“Thank you.” Lister smiled affectionately, “Three million years later and you’re still looking out for me.”

“If I’d done a better job of it three million years ago, we might not be in this mess.”

“It could be worse. I could have ended up in those edible underpants Rimmer mentioned.”

Todhunter guffawed softly, “We may all be stranded in the outer reaches of the universe, but at least your dignity and virtue are intact.”

“Although I’ve gotta be honest, given the limited opportunities I’ve had over the past six years, there’s been a few times I’ve wished I’d taken that smegging job,” Lister said with a teasing smile.

“Well, maybe you should have,” Todhunter blushed, “I’ve no doubt you’d have been good at it. And if we’re being honest, you would have had at least one very faithful customer.”

 

It had been an exhausting and emotional day, but Lister didn’t think that influenced what he did next. “There’s a lot of things I should have done back then,” he said softly, “And this is one of them.” He stepped forward, put one hand on the back of Todhunter’s neck and pulled him down into a firm kiss.

 

“I thought…this wasn’t what you wanted…” Todhunter murmured when he could breathe again.

“Priorities change,” Lister murmured back, “And it’s amazing how three million years of isolation can make you see what’s really important.”

“Kochanski…?”

“No,” Lister said simply. “And less said the better on that front. Seriously.”

“I’ll take your word for it.”

“Shhh. Come to bed.” Lister kissed him again.

“Goodness,” Todhunter cupped his face, “I’ll say it again. Whatever happened to that sweet young man?”

 

This time, Lister smiled. “He grew up.”

 

 

 


End file.
